This has been a year of scary and deadly firsts. There is the global coronavirus pandemic, raging wildfires, a record hurricane season, riots all across the country, and the looming threat of World War III kicking off in the Middle East.
And maybe not at the top of our list of things that could kill us in 2020, but defiantly not at the bottom, is the swarm of murder hornets that somehow made their way from the far east to the United States.
According to National Geographic:
People are not the Japanese giant hornet’s usual prey, but those who have felt its sting describe the pain as excruciating. Masato Ono, an entomologist at Tamagawa University, near Tokyo, said it’s “like a hot nail through my leg.”
Someone who is stung by the hornet and doesn’t receive proper treatment soon thereafter can die from the venom, which is powerful enough to disintegrate human flesh. About 40 people die each year after being stung by giant hornets, mainly as a result of an allergic reaction to the venom.
Recently, several scientists in the Pacific Northwest were able to locate and destroy a hive of the horrifying bugs.
Specialists suited up in hornet-proof outfits and vacuumed up a nest of these monstrosities in Washington state, putting a cap on a months-long effort to stop the invasive, bee-slaughtering pest.
Got ‘em. Vacuumed out several #AsianGiantHornets from a tree cavity near Blaine this morning. Further details will be provided at a press conference on Monday. Staff not available for interviews before then. pic.twitter.com/31kgAUuJd0
— Washington State Department of Agriculture (@WSDAgov) October 24, 2020
Scientists had to get clever to locate the hive. They baited the hornets with strawberry jam and tied tiny GPS beacons to them with dental floss.
That was not a joke, this is the world we live in now.
